Thank you to all of the attendees who made it to the URBANEXUS Austin event series! We had a great time exploring Austin, learning more about the city and talking to the locals about the reasons why they call Austin home. Over the course of two days, Next American City made nearly 75 new friends.
Next American City came into town to host a conversation on Austin as “The Place for Culture” and we were pleased to find that we certainly did pick the right city! On February 18 from 6-8 PM at the George Washington Carver Museum & Cultural Center, the evening kicked off with University of Texas at Austin Professor Michael Oden speaking about the relationship between local cultural and artistic activities and how they tie into economic development. After framing the larger conversation, Oden went on to look at Austin as a case study and even pointed out the underrepresented artists in the formal career classification chart. Panelists Ann Graham, Bobby Garza, Jason Neulander and Beatrice Thomas - each of whom represented a different angle of the arts from visual to theatric to musical - shared their own thoughts on the local cultural scene and the challenges a city such as Austin faces in converting local talent into national talent. The audience, representing several different organizations, were very engaged throughout the dialogue. Our partners - Congress for New Urbanism Central Texas Chapter and the City of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division - hope to host a second event to continue to translate the conversation into accomplishable actions.
Can Austin continue to remain the live music capital of the world? On February 19, from 6-8 PM at The Independent at 501 Studios, Next American City hosted a salon on “The Future of Live Music.” Our host, Austin Poetry Slam’s Mike Henry, led our guests of honor into a conversation about the viability of Austin as a live music city and the ability of Austin to continue to host independent artists in the future years. Panelists included Momo’s owner Paul Oviesi, Rampart Arts talent agent John Riedie and hip hop artist Da’Shade of Blacklisted Individuals. Through their individual experiences, guests were able to take in a full-picture view of the music scene in Austin from the struggles of the underpaid musicians to the selecting of musical guests at clubs and finally, the ability of local talent to make it on the national stage.
